9/16/2003: Isabel threatens

Undertoad · 09-16-2003, 12:04 PM

It's today's Astronomy pic of the Day, and Fark has also chosen it, and we have a separate Cellar thread discussing it, but this is such an amazing image that I had to include it here too.

If you go to the Apod site, and click on the photo, you can see a brilliant 1700 x 2200 version which shows enormous detail.

The entire east coast is concerned about this one, but it may turn out to be nothing. As I write this, Isabel's winds have calmed to 105 MPH (170 km/h), down from a high of about 160 (260).

It may be that the reason there's all this urgency this time is that the people who predict hurricanes have changed their approach. They are starting to forecast further out in time - partly, I think, because they are getting better at it, and partly because they want to give people more time to prepare.

In this case, it means that the urgency started on Saturday (five days out) instead of Monday (three days out), and the weekend gave everyone the chance to worry about it.

Not that there shouldn't be this kind of urgency; a little more prep time for hurricane Andrew would have helped back then and Isabel may gain power again before it hits.

09-16-2003, 12:04 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	9/16/2003: Isabel threatens It's today's Astronomy pic of the Day, and Fark has also chosen it, and we have a separate Cellar thread discussing it, but this is such an amazing image that I had to include it here too. If you go to the Apod site, and click on the photo, you can see a brilliant 1700 x 2200 version which shows enormous detail. The entire east coast is concerned about this one, but it may turn out to be nothing. As I write this, Isabel's winds have calmed to 105 MPH (170 km/h), down from a high of about 160 (260). It may be that the reason there's all this urgency this time is that the people who predict hurricanes have changed their approach. They are starting to forecast further out in time - partly, I think, because they are getting better at it, and partly because they want to give people more time to prepare. In this case, it means that the urgency started on Saturday (five days out) instead of Monday (three days out), and the weekend gave everyone the chance to worry about it. Not that there shouldn't be this kind of urgency; a little more prep time for hurricane Andrew would have helped back then and Isabel may gain power again before it hits.

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